Crooked House pub fire: Will the new owners restore the Britain's iconic landmark?

Pub lovers across England were shocked to find out what happened to Crooked House, a unique venue near Dudley.

A devastating blaze destroyed the popular landmark on Saturday before it was completely demolished and bulldozed on Monday.

Police now say they believe what happened was not an accident but an arson deliberately started by someone.

It has also emerged that the property was purchased by a private buyer just weeks before the fire broke out.

As detectives are on the case, here is what we know so far.

Police: Hasty demolition of Crooked House raises questions

Staffordshire Police rushed to reassure English pubs lovers that they’ll carry out a ‘robust investigation using all available information and forensic opportunities’ to get to the bottom of the shocking fire incident.

The force said:

We have spoken to, and continue to engage, with the owners. However, speculation is extremely unhelpful and could hinder our investigation.

Although the reasons behind the blaze haven’t been determined yet, police are following up on ‘a number of lines of enquiry’.

They now believe that ‘the fire may have been started deliberately’ hinting at an arson.

The force hopes to make progress in their investigation thanks to ‘a specialist accelerant detection dog’ that is being deployed to check the grounds.

Chief Constable Chris Noble of Staffordshire Police, Mr Longhi also questioned ‘the lack of information being provided to the public’ and ‘the way matters were dealt with by the relevant authorities’.

He said:

To make matters worse, this site was demolished the day after it caught fire, which raises strong questions.

If the police are investigating the fire incident, then why would the site be demolished whilst the police are conducting their enquiries, which may possibly require a forensic examination to gather evidence?

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Will the Crooked House be restored?

The decision to level up the 18th-century ‘wonky’ pub despite South Staffordshire Council having issued a permit only for a partial demolition, for safety reasons, angered the local residents and pub lovers across England.

The council is currently investigating how it came to this and whether there’s a breach involved.

The local authorities also said that ‘Britain’s wonkiest pub’ should be ‘rebuilt brick by brick’.

Thousands of locals have signed a petition to keep the pub as a public house following fears it had been sold for an ‘alternative use’ and was ‘unlikely to open its doors again’.

The new property owners who purchased it for a guide price of £675,000 have not been named but they were reportedly recommended to keep the venue's original purpose.

It remains unclear what they were intending to do with the property following the pub’s closure and whether it will ever return to the former glory.

A popular landmark in the Black Country, its leaning walls created a number of optical illusions such as pennies and marbles appearing to move uphill along the bar.

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Sources used:

- Independent: 'Fire that destroyed Crooked House pub days after it was bought by private buyer treated as arson, police say'

- Independent: 'Timeline of Crooked House fire as ‘major questions’ remain over devastating blaze at Britain’s wonkiest pub'